Los Resultados

The results are in from Chick-fil-a night! We packed that place and apparently you all spent $3,450 in just 3 short hours!! So, 10% of that means $345 to us. That night we also received several donations and sold some tshirts so the grand total made from Tuesday night was exactly $500!!!
Thank you so much!


**Special Prayer Request**
This does not have to do with our adoption but I can't get it out of my mind. When I was in Mexico I met a sweet couple that lived down the street from me. They now live in Concepcion, Chile. They are on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. The wife was not in Concepcion at the time of the earthquake but her husband and two little boys were. She still has not heard from them. I can't imagine the worry and fret that must be going on in her mind and heart right now. Would you please lift them up in prayer? Also, I am hearing that in Concepcion they are in need of water. Please pray for that as well. Thanks guys. My heart is heavy for them.


Much love,

Rummage Sale Part Deux

So I wanted you all to know about our next fundraiser! Since we had SO much success with our first Rummage Sale and we have two trailers full of furniture, baby items, toys, clothing, you name it we got it left over we thought we should have a SECOND Rummage Sale or Rummage Sale Part deux. So here come the details!

WHEN: Saturday March 13th
8am - 2pm

WHERE: The River Church
4307 Welcome Arcadia Road
Lexington, NC 27292
(It's on the Winston-Salem side of Lexington though. If you go Peter's Creek Pkwy (Hwy 150) South then you'll get there. Or, you can go from Clemmons down Frye Bridge Road and get there) Check it out on google maps: http://tinyurl.com/yjpgz8m.
Here's the church's website: http://www.riverchurchlive.com/

WHAT: Sofas, loveseats, chairs, coffee tables, exercise equipment, bikes, TOYS, baby stuff, all sizes of clothing and shoes, artwork, BOOKS, homewares, kitchen appliances and cookware items, electronics, and I'm sure I'm missing something else!

HOW YOU CAN HELP: We would love for you to tell everybody you know that lives in that area or close by that would be interested.

*Also, if you know of preschools or families that are interested in strollers and kids' toys and clothes we got 'em! Send them our way!

*If you have anything you'd like OUT of your house that you'd like to DONATE, then give us a call or send us an email or post a comment on here! We are still able to accept furniture and other items....just no more clothes. :) We can't hang another piece of clothing! Hehe. We will stop accepting donations for this sale on Sunday March 7th.

*You can also help us set up and unload our trailers on Friday evening, March 12th or help us out on Saturday during the Sale! We had a great time hanging out last time, so come join us! Just look at the pictures!

Much love,

THANK YOU GUYS!

So I know you are all waiting on some results from the Chick-fil-A night! It was CRAZY!! The place was super packed and the drive-thru went around the building and spilled out to the Harris Teeter parking lot! People were leaned up on counters eating their food! The manager on duty said they were "way more slammed than we are used to." She said if we all hadn't been sweeping and cleaning tables then they would not have been able to keep up! Wow!! Thank you all SO SO SO much for coming out to support us and telling your friends! Unfortunately we will not know the total until after this weekend because the lady that handles the finances is out of town until this weekend. I know!! I so wanted to hear a total too! Don't worry, I will let you all know as SOON as I find out! So stay tuned! Oh, and check out some pics below! There are lots more thanks to the ever so talented photographer, Meredith Smith!

SO MUCH LOVE,

My family! You see my gramma and mom wearing their African beads? :)

Dynamic Duo (Glamour Shots by Deb)

Noliocious

Our new small group at Reynolda!

Me, Ashley & Meredith
(Those awesome Ethiopia tshirts are from Ashley! Her family adopted a sweet little boy from there!) (Oh AND Meredith and I were both her Spanish students at West Forsyth.)

You guys rock!

So, I am for real blown away at how many people are promoting our Chick-fil-A night tomorrow! You guys rock! I mean it! I just love how God stirs people's hearts for what He's up to! Thank you all so so much. I think we are gonna pack that Chick-fil-A on Peacehaven!!!

See you tomorrow night!!

Much love,

Do Something

This is a moving video that Brian and I wanted to share. It's from the Children's Hopechest website. We heard and met Tom Davis, the CEO of Children's Hopechest, at a Caroline's Promise Fundraiser early in 2009. Brian said that after he heard him speak the call to adopt became even more personal to him, the call was so clear to him then. We just thought we'd share this video and you can check out their website. There are great ways to get involved with orphans on here: mission trips, sponsorship of kids, sponsorship to help raise funds for wells, school buildings, etc. for large groups or communities to make an impact, even ways for your church to sponsor an orphanage.

Do Something Now from Children's HopeChest on Vimeo.

Another cool thing that I wanted to tell you about: Saturday, March 6 from 8am-12pm. Blaise Baptist Church in Mocksville is having their annual Adoption & Orphan Care Expo. The speaker in the morning will be Peter Abrera, an Ethiopian that works with Children's Hopechest and coordinates orphan care in Ethiopia. At the event there will be family testimonies, breakout sessions, expert panels, informational booths, and music by recording artist Martin Moore. And it's free and open to the public! Click here for more info on the event and directions and all: http://www.blaisebaptist.com/templates/System/details.asp?id=36001&PID=629815


Much love,

Sweet Gotcha Day Video

I have wanted to share a sweet sweet video with you all. This is the first Ethiopian Gotcha Day video that Brian and I saw. It touched our hearts so so much. It even inspired us to research the adoption agency that we decided to go with, AGCI. I wanted to make sure it was okay to share this video so I emailed first and Lucy Lane's mom, Kristi, said she would love for me to share it. Apparently, 20,000 people have viewed it already on Youtube and God is using it to touch people's hearts for adoption! I seriously can't watch this video without tearing up so get your kleenex ready before you watch!

2 cool stories!

Okay I have a cool story to share today, well two!! So, today Brian went to the bank to open up our official adoption checking account. Our smart friends in the adoption world said make sure to make it a checking account because that's what we'll write our checks out of to the agency and for all the fees. Anyway, Brian got to go in with that big stack o' cash from the Rummage Sale to deposit! He opened the account and then went up to the front to actually make the deposit. Brian ended up telling the bank teller about how we are adopting and how all this money was from a fundraiser. That's when she told him that she and her husband had been talking about adopting. How, in fact, they had just recently had a conversation about it. They said, "Well we're really young, we thought you had to be 30 to adopt." So Brian said, "No way! Not in every country!" She was excited to hear that. She said that they just had a 9 month old so they aren't starting tomorrow or anything but still, what a great way to confirm adoption for that family! God is so good to use us to speak to people's hearts.

Second cool story. I wore my new brown Africa tshirt w/ the continent and an E over Ethiopia on it to school today. (you can scroll down and see my grandma wearing one!) This shirt, by the way, was donated to us along w/ several others. Actually, my 9th grade Spanish teacher and her husband just adopted a little boy from Ethiopia and they donated the shirts to us to sell. Awesome huh? So, I'm wearing my shirt and people LOVE it! You know what else? Kids love it! Tons of my students were reading the back and asking me about it. One kid in the hall said, "Did you live in Texas?" Haha, I said, "oh no, this is Africa." So, the back says, "Every child needs a home" and students would read it and ask what that means. I explained that not every child in the world has a home. Some kids don't have parents because of different reasons. They said, "really? that's sad." Then I explained that we are adopting one. Several others beat me to it and said, "ohhh so they need families to help them and take them in" And I said, "EXACTLY!!" I love when kids get things like that.

Much love,

2 posts you should read

I got a couple things I want to link you all to.

First, my wonderful friend and Fundraising Diva wrote a great post on her blog about something that happened at our Rummage Sale on Saturday. She handled it with such grace but stood up for what's true. You gotta read what she wrote:
http://simplysmittys.blogspot.com/2010/02/too-chancy.html

Second, another friend that is adopting from Ethiopia posted something on her blog that I just love too. She gave me permission to link to it as well. It's a response to the CBS newstory they aired the other night about Christian World Adoption (CWA) and Ethiopian adoption. Well, that is the agency they are using and I really would love for you to read what she has to say.
http://dean-machine.blogspot.com/2010/02/adoption-pangs.html

What I think is great about these two posts is that they both are about love and chances. Yes, there are chances and risks...but wow, don't those millions of orphans deserve a chance? It's always risky to love but is it worth it? Yes.

Twice as good

Yesterday I was just thinking about our family and friends and how much I appreciate them. Some of you know that Sara Groves is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and she has a new album. Anyway, one of the songs keeps coming to my mind over and over again as I think about the people I love and this journey that we are on with adoption and even just life in general. So, I wanted to share some of the lyrics of the song. The song is called "Twice as Good"...go download it! Here's her website too: http://www.saragroves.com/.

"When I am down and need to cry till morning

I know just where I am going

When I'm in need of sweet commiseration

To speak out loud

Raise a glass to friendship

And to knowing you don't have to go alone

We'll raise our hearts to share each other's burdens

On this road.

Every burden I have carried

Every joy--it's understood

Life with you is half as hard,

And twice as good."

Much love,

So, wanna know how much money we made??

It's Sunday, Valentine's Day, the day after the BIG sale! I still can hardly believe it! I should be taking a nap right now but I really wanted to write this post.

Including the Craigslist sales and donations, we have a total of $2,600!!!! Praise God!! And that is with snow that was on the ground, icy roads and parking lots! We are so so grateful to everyone that came and helped, donated, prayed, whatever it is that you did...we love you for it!! This past week is a blur to me. It felt like the longest week and the quickest week all in one. This morning we totally forgot it was Valentine's Day! We have raised 26% of our $10,000 with just our first fundraiser.

We have so much stuff left over that we decided that we would have another sale next month. We will have it in a different location though. I'll post all the details about that once we get it nailed down. So if you have some items that you'd still like to donate and didn't get a chance to, let us know. However, we cannot take any more clothing donations because we have so so many already and we're having a time storing and sorting them all. :)

What's next? Tuesday, February 23rd!! That is our Chick-fila Night! Come out and support us by eating at Chick-fila and bringing everyone you know to eat there between
5-8pm to the Robinhood/Peacehaven location (you know the one near the Fresh Market, Harris Teeter, La Carreta). We will receive 10% of all the sales during those 3 hours. Can't wait!

So much love,

That's my sweet grandma showing off her new shirt!

You have to see it to believe it!

Okay everybody, you HAVE to come see all the stuff we just put in the gym at New Hope for the Rummage Sale that will be taking place in 7 hours!!! We just got in from setting up! Thank you SOO much to everybody that came out to help and especially to the interior decorators that made that furniture and homewares section so cute! Jaquan and Takeyla, you rock! I can't wait for you all to see the pictures!! Alright, I gotta go get some sleep for the BIG DAY!! I hope to see you there!!!

I will trust You, Jesus

Everyday but especially today I want to remember this:

"For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth; you are He who took me from my mother’s womb. I will always praise You." -Psalm 71:5&6

I am getting nervous and excited about Saturday. This first big fundraiser makes everything seem more real. This is really happening. Doubts try to come in and discourage me. I think, "what if we don't raise enough money?" or "what if our homestudy doesn't work out because we don't make a lot of money?" or "what if they decide we're not good enough parents?" or "what if none of this even works out and all those people donated for nothing?" I mean good grief! Satan is getting pretty desperate here huh? I'm not gonna lie. All of these thoughts have come to my mind. However, I refuse to believe them. I trust in the God that I have trusted all of my life, the One that brought me from my mother's womb with a plan for my life, the One that brings hope, the One that is my encourager, my defender.

Let's trust Him. He's so faithful.

Tonight, Isabel prayed, "Jesus, thank you that you are in heaven but that you are with my baby brother or sister in Africa too. Thank you that you love us and take care of us. I just love you."

Help us to trust you like that God.

Where is Part 3??

I realized that I have not posted Part 3 of how all of this adoption stuff got started with our family yet! I will post it very soon though. Check back in a day or so. If you want to read the prior parts you can click here:

Part1:http://hunts4adoption.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-did-all-this-start-anyway.html
Part 2: http://hunts4adoption.blogspot.com/2010/01/how-did-this-all-startpart-2.html

we heart the smiths

I wanted to share this post with you guys so you can see all the hard work our friends aka Fundraising Coordinators, the Smiths, are pouring into this Rummage Sale! Without them, all of this would not be possible! They are awesome! We love them!

http://simplysmittys.blogspot.com/2010/02/lots-and-lots-and-lots-of.html

RUMMAGE SALE

Rummage Sale and Bake Sale
This weekend everybody!!! Tell everyone you know!
We have sooo much stuff it's CRAZY!!

Toys
Books
Baby Items (including several strollers)
Clothing and Shoes (for Men, Women, Children, Toddlers, Infants!)
Seasonal Items
Sporting Goods
Electronics
Furniture (Beds, dressers, couches, chairs, etc.)
Housewares
Kitchen/Cooking Items
Artwork
LOTS MORE!

Oh and yummy treats that will be available for purchase at the Bake Sale!!

Saturday, Feb. 13th
8am-2pm
New Hope Presbyterian Church
2570 Harper Rd., Clemmons

From I-40W, take Lewisville-Clemmons Exit
Turn right onto Lewisville Clemmons Rd.
Turn left onto S. Peacehaven Rd.
Take the 3rd right onto Harper Rd.
Go less than a mile and the church is on the left.

Wow!

Wow! I am so amazed at you all! So thankful that you would use your time to bake something for our bake sale, go through your house to find things that we could sell. That you would support us without even knowing us! That you would tell people about our sale and about our adoption! But, we shouldn't be surprised! I just read an article that I will post a link to. It's really powerful. God is crazy about orphans. His heart is huge for them! He is moving in your hearts because it's on His heart too! He has a special plan for this baby in Ethiopia and a way to bring him or her home! He is their Defender...and our's.

I'm so excited about next Saturday!!!

Oh, here's the link: http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/everyone_needs_a_family_kay_warren/

Love,